Clamp.



UNITED STATES PATENT FFIGE ALFRED M. HEWLETT AND GEORGE F. VAN BRUNT, OFKEWANEE, ILLINOIS; SAID VAN BRUNT ASSIGNOR TO SAID HEWLETT.

CLAIVIP.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented April 30, 1907.

Application filed November 13, 1903. Serial No. 181.103.

ments in Clamps, of which the following is a specification, referencebeing had to the accompanying drawings.

n Our invention relates to clamps, and has for its'object to provide animproved clamp having great latitude of adjustment, in con nection withlevermechanism arranged to act quickly and powerfully to securean'ellicient clamping action, also to provide a clamp which isself-adjusting with regard to the parts to be clam ed and which may beapplied expeditious y and conveniently. The advantages of our improvedclamp are hereinafter fully set forth.

IVe have illustrated our invention as embodied in a clamp especiallydesigned for molders flasks, but the features of invention hereinafterdescribed, and pointed out in the claims, may be applied to clamps forany and all other purposes to which they are adapted.

In the accompanying drawings, Figiue 1 is a side view of my improvedclamp, showing it in position on a flask Fig. 2 is an end view thereof;Fig. 3 is a sectional view on line 8-3 of Fig. 2; Fig. 4 is an invertedperspective view of the operating-lever; Fig. 5 is a perspective view ofthe swinging arm; and Fig. 6 is a partial side view of a flask, showingthe lugs to which the clamp is secured.

Referring to the drawings,7 indicates the drag and 8 the cope of aflask, which, as shown in Fig. 6, are provided with laterallyprojectinglugs 9-10, respectively, adapted to register when the parts of the flaskare assembled. The adjacent or inner surfaces of the lu 's 91O areparallel,but the outer surfaces thereof are inclined,the lugs beingtaered toward their ends, as shown at a, b, 0, Sin Fig. 6, so that thelugs when brought together form a double wedge.

11-12 indicate, respectively, the top and bottom pieces of theclamp-frame, which are 1 connected at one side by side-pieces 13-14, asshown in Fig. 1. For the purpose of securing greater strength an endpiece 15 is also provided, connecting the lnner ends of the top andbottom pieces 111Z ,sa1d endpiece being preferably formed mtegral withthe side-piece 13 the top and bottomlpieces 1112 and the end piece 15thus together form a frame which, generally speaking, may be sald to beU shaped. As best shown 111 'Fig. 3, the top and bottom pieces 11-12 areinclined with reference to each other,the1r 6o inner ends being closertogether than their outer ends but the top and bottom pieces areapproximately parallel as their inclination to each other is not marked.All that is necessary is to have a slight flare to insure a proper 6 5fitting of the frame upon the article clamped.

16 indicates a swinging clamping arm, mounted at its inner end upon apivot 17 car ried by a lug 18 at the upper inner corner of the frame, asshown in Fig. 3. is approximately parallel with the adjacent member ofthe clamp framethe top piece 11 and consequently is inclined slightlyrelatively to the bottom piece 12 and it is adapted to toward and fromthe bottonrpieee 12. Its downward movement is limited, however, by meansof a lug 19 which projects from the front edge of the side-piece 1 1, asshown in Fig. 1, and lies under a laterally-projecting hp 20 carried atthe forward end of the swinging-arm 16, as shown in Figs. 2 and 5. Therelative positions of the lug 19 and lip 20 are best shown in Fig. 2.The .lug 19 is so placed as to hold the arm 16 at the outer end in its 85 inclined position,the distance between the arm 16 and bottom-piece 12at their outer ends being made greater than at their inner ends, inorder that the clamp may adjust itself automatically to varyingdistances between, and irregularities of, the lugs 910 as it is placedupon or over said lugs.

21 indicates the operating-lever, which is mounted upon a pivot 22secured in lugs 23 24 carried by the frame above the forward portion ofthe arm 16, as shown in Fig. 3. Said lever is provided near its pivotwith a cam-portion 25, which, when the lever 21 is turned down to aposition more or less parallel with the top-piece 11, engages and de-Said arm 16 7o swing in the plane of the frame 75 When the lever 21 isthe lugs 9-10. 2627 indicate lateral Wings, carried by theoperating-lever, which extend over the lugs 2324 and serve to protectsaid lugs. Said wings are preferably formed integral with the lever 21,and they are provided with a forward extension or lip 28 which-acts as astop to limit the upward movement of the lever 21, as when said lever isthrown upward to 11$ highest position the lip strikes the forward edgesof the lugs 23-24.

In practice the operator takes the clamp by the operating-lever 21,which is then in the position shown in dotted lines in Fig. 1, andplaces it upon the lugs 9-10 by an endwise'movement,the swinging-arm 16riding up on the inclined face of the upper lug 10, while thebottom-piece 12 moves up on the inclined face of the lower lug 9. Whenthe clamp is moved up as far as it will go the lever 21 is thrown downto the position shown in Fig. 3,thereby forcing down the forward end ofthe arm 16, and consequently tightly clamping the lugs 910 together.

Our improved clamp embodies certain important features of constructionand advantages of operation which, so far as we are aware, are entirelynovel. the upper and lower members of the clamp being set at an angle toeach other, all the slack is taken up by said inclined members, so thatthe cam-lever need be used only for the final tightening or clamping,the clamping members automatically fitting themselves to the parts to beclamped. Consequently, as very slight movement of the clamping-deviceshas to be effected by the operation of the operatinglever, a slowlyacting cam may be effectively employed,- thereby increasing the power ofthe operating-lever and insuring a secure hold on the part of the cam.In the second place, by employing an inclined swinging-arm in connectionwith an operating-lever as described, the upper and lower members of theclamp adjust themselves to the parts to be clamped and to anyirregularities in such parts without modifying the action of theoperatinglever itself,that is to say, the inclination of the.upper andlower members of the frame of the clamp provides a self adjusting meansfor the proper fitting of the clamp upon the parts to be securedtogether, regardless of irregularities therein, while the finaltightening secured by the operating-lever is applied directly to theparts to be clamped through the arm, and the effective operation of theoperating-lever is always the same, regardless of variations in thethickness of the parts to be clamped. In this respect our improved clampis radically different from clamps in which a cam acts directly upon theparts to be held together. In such cases differences in thickness ofsuch parts must be compensated for by greater movement of the cam;

In the first place,

and to provide a cam with the necessary range of movement involvesincreasing its pitch accordingly to secure greater rapidity of movement,with a consequent loss in the security of the hold. Obviously, thegreater the pitch of the earn, the greater its liability to slip. In thethird place, by employing the inclined pivoted arm in connection withthe operating-lever as described, we are enabled to secure a muchgreater application of power to the parts to be clamped than wouldotherwise be the case, since the parts to be clamped invariably lienearer the pivot of said arm than the point at which the operating-leverac ts thereupon. Said pivoted arm, therefore, acts as a lever of thesecond class to multiply the power applied to the operating-lever.

So far as we are aware, all prior clamps employing a cam-lever fortightening have been limited to such adjustment as could be secured bythe movement of the cam itself; and we believe ourselves to be the firstto provide a self-fitting clamp having a greater range of adjustmentthan that secured. by the movement of the cam. Ne also believe ourselvesto be the first to provide a cam-lever clamp adapted to be adj usted toarticles of different thicknesses independently of the operation of saidcam-lever. Also, we believe ourselves to be the first to provide a clamparranged to be forced quickly into place to automatically efiect apreliminary binding of the parts to be clamped, and provided with alever or other mechanism for tightening said parts. l/Ve further believeourselves to be the first to provide a self-fitting clamp with compoundlever-mechanism for clamping and tightening the parts to be clamped, aswell as the first to employ an inclined swinging-arm in the clamp-framein connection with a lever acting upon the outer end of said arm forsecuring the finaltightening. All the above features are there foreclaimed broadly.

We have illustrated and described our improved clamp as applied to aflask, as that furnishes a convenient means of clearly exemplifying thepractical application of the invention, but it may, of course, beapplied to any other use to which it is adapted, and our inventionincludes generically all such modifications as would suggest themselvesto the skilled mechanic who might contemplate using. features of ourinvention in other situa tions. We wish it to be understood further thatour invention is not restricted to details of construction, except in sofar as such details are particularly claimed. Furthermore, it should beunderstood that while our improved clamp is ordinarily used in avertical position, it may be otherwise used, and theiterms upper andlower as applied to the members of the clamp frame have been used asconveniently defining the position of IIO said parts as illustrated, andthey should not be construed as in any sense restricting the use of theclamp.

That which we claim as our invention and desire to secure by LettersPatent is,

1. A clamp, comprising a frame open at one end to receive the object tobe clamped and having clamping members disposed approximately inparallelism, one of said members being movable toward the other forclamping purposes, and means for limiting the extent to which saidmovable member may approach the other clamping member.

2. A clamp, comprising a frame open at one end to receive the object tobe clamped and having clamping members disposed approximately inparallelism, one of said members being pivotally supported near one endand movable toward the other for clamping purposes, and means forlimiting the extent to which said pivoted member may approach the otherclamping member.

3. A clamp, comprising a frame open at one end to receive the object tobe clamped and having clamping members disposed ap proximately inparallelism, one of said members being movible toward the other forclamping purposes, means for limiting the extent to which said movablemember may approach the other clamping member, and means carried by saidframe for forcing the movable member toward the other clamping member.

4. A clamp, comprising a frame open at one end to receive the object tobe clamped and having clamping members disposed approximately inparallelism, one of said mem bers being pivotally supported near one endand movable toward the other for clamping purposes, means for limitingthe extent to l l l which said pivoted member may approach the otherclamping member, and means car ried by said frame for forcing thepivoted member toward the other clamping member.

5. A clamp, comprising a suitable l'rame having clamping members set adistance apart and adapted to receive between them the object to beclamped, one of said members being pivotally mounted and having one endmovable toward the other clamping member for clamping purposes, andmeans for limiting the extent to which said pivoted member may approachthe other clamping member. I

6. A clamp, comprising a suitable frame having clamping members set adistance apart and adapted to receive between them the object to beclamped, one of said members being pivotally mounted near one end, itsfree end portion being movable toward the other clamping member forclamping purposes, and means for holding the free end of said pivotedmember at all times further from the other clamping member than theother end thereof.

7. A clamp, comprising a Ushaped frame adapted to receive the object tobe clamped, one side of said frame forming a clamping member, clampingmeans carried at the opposite side of said frame for cooperating withsaid clamping member, and means for limiting the extent to which thelatter clamping means may approach the other clamping member.

- ALFRED M. HEWLETT.

GEORGE E. VAN BRUNT.

l/Vitnesses:

RUTH 'lUNNIomFFn, C. E. McCULLoUen.

